Northern Secrets represented some of the region’s top attractions including Alnwick Castle, Beamish, Durham Cathedral, Raby Castle, The Bowes Museum, Durham University Attractions, Vindolanda, and Sunderland as well as DFDS and Hampton by Hilton, at RDA – the leading international trade-only exhibition for the coach tourism sector – in Cologne in July.
The exhibition provided the opportunity for the attractions to meet key buyers face-to-face represented by German speaking guide Alex Jacobs.
Alex Jacobs, Managing Director, Northern Secrets said: “RDA was a great success again this year. It’s a great opportunity to showcase the region directly to those people who can make the decision to bring groups here. It’s not about how many people you speak to but ensuring that we are reaching the right people. Many north east attractions are seeing the benefit of North East England presence at RDA over the past three years including Vindolanda, The Bowes Museum and Beamish who have welcomed groups sourced at the exhibition.”
According to RDA in Germany there are 19.4 million bus and coach holidays taken by German people every year, with a value of over 10 billion euros. And nearly two-thirds of these trips are to destinations outside of Germany.
“We already know that North East England is already a popular destination for German holidaymakers with over 55,000 visiting every year. We see the German coach market as an area that we can grow for tourism businesses in North East England.”
Northern Secrets is a small tour company based in Newcastle that specialises in trips and tours to Northern Britain. Bringing over 7000 people to the region every year it provides quality bespoke group holidays. It aims to not only bring people to the region but to let them really experience the north east.